In the Shadow of the October Revolution

2017 was the 100th anniversary of the October revolution in Russia. The takeover by the Communist Bolsheviks changed the world for ever and with it the live of three great Russion composers of the 20th century.

Dmitri Shostakovich, who never escaped the control of the Soviet state, returnee Sergei Prokofiev, who claimed to have recognised too late the challenges of the changed situation, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, who took the opportunity of a concert tour to Sweden to flee Russia and never saw his homeland again. The lives and work of all three are all closely interwoven with the history of their country, but in different ways.